Here's a deceptive article about the drug war in Tijuana, Mexico, and the man seen as responsible for its success, chief of police Lieutenant Colonel Julián Leyzaola Pérez. Why is the article deceptive? Because as in any war, things are not black and white. Especially when the war involves torture.

Unlike his predecessors, Leyzaola went straight at the narcos. He called them mugrosos (slimeballs) and cockroaches, and chased their armored convoys through the streets. He replaced police commanders whom he considered passive with other retired Army officers. He told the press, “If the cartels understand only the language of violence, then we are going to have to speak in their language and annihilate them.” He told his bodyguards to concentrate on going after attackers rather than on protecting him. “I know how to shoot and I shoot well. I always shoot to the head.” His fearlessness and ire left tijuanenses in awe. Arriving at the scene of a shoot-out where one of his men had died, he punched the corpse of a cartel gunman in the face. During Leyzaola’s first year in Tijuana, thirty-two cops were killed in the line of duty—more than had died in the previous five years combined.